History

Following the attempted coup d'état by the Spanish army on 19
July 1936, Camillo Berneri with Gilioli Rivoluzio,
Romagno Castagnoli and perhaps also Antonio Cieri, met at Berneri's
home in exile, to plan the creation of an anarchist column to fight
in Spain. This developed into a more ecumenical, non-communist unit
organized by Berneri, Socialists Carlo Rosselli, Mario Angeloni, Umberto
Calosso and the Spanish anarchist Diego Abad de Santillán.

This Italian column was officially constituted a month after the
beginning of the fascist rising on 17 August.

Upon reaching Barcelona, the Italian volunteers were attached to
the Ascaso Column Formation of the CNT-FAI anarchists. The
Column Francisco Ascaso had been named in
memory of an anarchist fighter killed on 20 July in Barcelona
during the seizure of the Atarazanas barracks.

The first military formation of the Italians, a battalion of 150
volunteers, left Barcelona headed for the Aragon front the day of
its formation and participated in the Battle of Monte Pelato. This
first engagement assumed particular meaning because it was the
first push on the Aragon front and because the republicans overcame
a much larger and better trained and equipped force.

About 3500 [1] Italian
expatriates fought on the anti-fascist side in the Spanish Civil
War.